Why this Fishers man appeared in Weight Watchers magazine

Justin Brown, Fishers, is being profiled by Weight Watchers magazine after losing almost 40 pounds on the weight-loss program. He is hoping to reach more men who might not be eager to talk about weight loss. (May 2017)
Robert Scheer/IndyStar

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Justin Brown, Fishers, has lost about 70 pounds, 38 of which with help from the Weight Watchers program, which has helped him make better choices about his eating, Indianapolis, Tuesday, May 2, 2017. Brown, a trained chef, stresses that a common misconception he's heard is that the program is for women only.(Photo: Robert Scheer/IndyStar)Buy Photo

As a student at Ball State studying communication, information and media, he had plans of becoming a broadcast news reporter. There was just one thing holding him back.

"A professor said to me, 'If you want to continue in broadcast journalism' — you know, he was brutally honest with me — he said, 'I'm sorry, but you're too fat.'"

Brown said he had struggled with weight problems for most of his life, from childhood through college and into adulthood. But he still remembers the "devastating" feeling of being told as a young adult that his weight might be an obstacle to pursuing his dream.

Fifteen years later, the 38-year-old Fishers resident has lost nearly 70 pounds, almost 40 since he got back on a program with Weight Watchers around two years ago. He is featured in the May/June issue of Weight Watchers magazine.

And while his professor's frank assessment was devastating at the time, looking back now, he considers it a wake-up call that put him on the path to changing his life — starting with his career choice and, eventually, dropping from almost 300 pounds at his heaviest to the 220-range.

After graduation he re-evaluated what he really wanted to do with his career. He always had liked to cook, he said, so he settled on culinary school. He worked as a chef for 15 years and now works in sales with Gordon Food Service. Looking back, he is certain he made the right decision.

"It was the right move for me," he said. "But in that transition through the last 15 years, I've also not been happy, personally, with my body. So I needed to really figure out what I needed to do to have a balance, to be able to be happy personally and professionally."

Pictured here on a 2006 trip to Savannah, Ga., Justin Brown has lost nearly 40 pounds since getting back on program with Weight Watchers and nearly 70 pounds total. His journey is featured in the May/June issue of Weight Watchers magazine.(Photo: Provided by Justin Brown)

That's when he joined Weight Watchers, he said, and committed himself to making the changes necessary to get healthy and lose the weight.

Brown said it was inspiring to meet the six other Weight Watchers members featured in the magazine and said he felt a certain level of responsibility being the only male representation out of the bunch.

"Men, we don't really like to talk about this," he said. "We don't like to talk that we're having body image issues, and we don't like our body because we want to be strong and made out of concrete and nothing really affects us and we don't want to talk about our feelings, and that's just not true. I think behind closed doors, I mean, it really bothers a lot of men as far as how their body looks, how other men are perceived on billboards and the media and in Hollywood. We strive to, I think, try to appear just as sexy as these athletes or celebrities, and it's really hard to keep up with it."

Want to get started?

Brown offered his top five tips for anyone who wants to make a lifestyle change and lose weight.

1. Believe that it's in you. "Nobody else can do it for you," he said. "People can tell you to lose weight, people can suggest you lose weight, but no one can do the work for you."

2. Be realistic and patient. "Be realistic because you're gonna go through life every day and there are so many things that can get you off course," Brown said. "But remember that if you have the patience to just take it one day at a time, one meal at a time, one bite at a time, that you will get there."

3. Become active. "Get into some sort of activity or fitness program that you love," he said. "If you hate exercising, you're gonna have to just brush that to the side."

4. Become mindful. "It's so easy to just have mindless eating in our lives, all day long, just snacking," he said. "It's so important to be aware." This is where a program like Weight Watchers helps hold you accountable, he said. It gives you the tools to stay on top of your eating habits and stay committed to that change.

5. Embrace who you are. If you need to, make a list and write down the things you like about yourself and the things you need to improve on, he said. "Find out what it is in your life that's making you happy and keeping you from being happy," he said. "If you just keep that list somewhere and you start to focus on these things, you're gonna start to really be in tune with yourself and in the meantime everything else is going to fall into place."